the good die young
by blue and gold
Summary: This is what it means to be a hero. [Wally West]


_**the good die young**_

* * *

_This is what it means to be a hero. [Wally West]_

* * *

_Dis_claimer: I _do not_ own.

* * *

When he was little, he used imagine being a superhero.

He would tuck a sheet into the back of his shirt, and parade around the house, jumping on the couch, and the bed—and knock over lamps, but they were ugly, anyway—and his mother would put her hands on her hips, and say, _"Wallace Rudolph West,_ you stop that _right now."_

And he would grin, because, "_Momma_, I'm gonna be a _s'perhero!"_

* * *

His parents really don't know what to do with him.

He goes around, _all_ the time, and he says, _"I'm gonna be a superhero,"_ and it's cute, yeah, but Mary says, _"He needs to focus on the __**real world**__, Rudy."_

Iris and Barry and Rudy and Joan and Jay laugh it off, because, _"It's just a phase, Mary—he'll grow out of it."_

(And he will—maybe.)

* * *

_"Ohmygod!"_

"Wally—Wally, _calm down!"_

"But—But—_ohmygod!"_

_"Wally, not so __**loud**__!"_

"But—But _Aunt Iris,_ thisisso_cool! _I—I mean—"

"—_Wally, __**quiet**__—_"

"—Uncle Barry's _the Flash!"_

* * *

"_Please_—"

"No."

"But—"

"_No._"

"Come on—"

"_No, _Wally."

"Uncle _Barry_—"

"For the _last_ _time,_ Wally, _no."_

* * *

Wally's always been impatient. And stubborn. _(If Uncle Barry won't do it, __**I'll**__ do it.)_

And, so, yeah, he kind of blows himself up, a little. (And the garage, but when he tells his mother that, she yells at him and _cries_ and says, "I can get a new garage—I _can't get a new son!"_ and hugs him until he feels like he's gonna _break.)_

And Barry sighs and Rudy points out, "Well, you have to give him points for being _creative_."

Mary glares.

(And Barry caves, eventually.)

* * *

Being a hero is awesome.

("And dangerous," Mary and Rudy remind him.)

But, awesome.

("And hard," Jay and Barry remind him.)

But, _awesome._

("And terrifying," Iris and Joan remind him.)

But, awesome. (And he totally rocks the spandex. Yeah.)

* * *

"Wait a minute. You're _Robin_." Wally stares.

Dick blinks, "Uh, _yeah_," because, _duh._

"—As in, _Batman's_ partner." Wally gawks.

"…_Yeah_…" Dick says.

_"Awesome!"_ Wally grins, and then, "but, just one question."

Dick blinks, again. "…Uh, alright…?"

"What's with the _tights?_"

* * *

Kaldur is a stiff and Roy is a grouch.

(At least, that's what Wally tells Dick, but they still all get together at the Hall and complain about how they Leaguers don't give them enough missions.)

"Like, seriously," Wally says, "we're better than this."

"Definitely." Roy grouses.

"Totally." Dick chirps.

"Most certainly." Kaldur agrees.

"Then, we're in agreement!" Wally says, around a mouth ful of chips—and, wow, what flavor is this, because it's _really_ good—and then, "Now, who wants to tell Batman?"

(…Okay, so, it's a work in progress.)

* * *

Miss Martian is _fine._

(But, Arty is finer. And SB's already got his eye on Miss M, so.)

But, Artemis is kind of _mean_ and scary and secretive and, okay, _really _scary, so that doesn't mean he can't try.

"Hey, beautiful—did it hurt?"

"…Um, _what?"_

"Did it hurt. When you fell."

Miss M blinks, "…Fell from _what?"_

Wally grins, because, _oh yeah,_ he's smooth, "When you fell from heaven."

(Yeah, smooth.)

* * *

Alright, so, yeah, Artemis is a spitfire, but she's kind of hot, and she gives him this _smile_ with these _eyes_, and he thinks that maybe—_maybe_—he might just _really_ kind of like her, sort of. In a way.

"See you later, Bay Watch," and she saunters out of the training room, like she's _just that hot._

And he breathes, because _hot damn,_ she is _just that hot._

And Dick laughs.

Wally turns, because, "_What?"_

Dick does a flip of the balance beam—because he's _just that cool,_ (most of the time)—and grins, before saying, "dude. You couldn't be more transparent if you were made of _glass,"_ and then he cackles himself out the door.

And, it takes Wally a minute, but "_that is so __**not**__ funny_."

* * *

Zatanna Zatara is _smooth._ (Smoother than Dick, and Wally. Maybe.)

She laughs and smiles and wraps the Boy _Blunder_ around her finger, and as she gives him this _look_ as she sashays out of the Cave, and says, "bye, Boy Wonder."

Dick laughs, and waves, and just generally looks like a moron. (Head over heels. Totally.)

And Wally is _so damn satisfied_ as he crows, _"You couldn't be more transparent if you were made of __**glass**__,"_ and then, he adds, _just because, _"or, should I say, made of _sslag?"_

Oh, yeah. Smooth.

* * *

Tula's dead.

(It should mean something more to him, and he tries so hard to _feel_, but all he can do is _stare_ and stare and _stare_ because Tula's dead and Artemis almost died and they all came close and, _god,_ what is _Garth_ going to say and _how_ is he going to tell Kaldur?)

Artemis sobs, and tries to hold herself, because, _"oh—oh god."_

And Wally wraps an arm around her, and tries to pretend, because, _"I know."_

* * *

"I can't do this anymore," is what he tells Dick, after Kaldur goes rogue and Garth just _leaves_ without another word. "Artemis and I are done."

And what can Dick say, besides, "I know," and, "I'll tell the others,"?

And Wally just feels _tired_ when he says, "thanks, bro," and turns, because it's over.

(Even when it'll never be, but, he can pretend.)

* * *

Jason dies two months later.

He doesn't go to the memorial, because he's had enough of those—and he tries not to feel bad, (and fails)—and, instead, he goes to the Cave, in the room, where the holographs are of the heroes that never come back.

Dick sits there, at the foot of his biggest mistake, and all Wally can say is, "hey, bro."

Dick doesn't turn, but he knows. "Hey."

Wally sits down beside him and he feels _so_ _damn old_ and _so damn tired_ and _so damn sick_ of losing kids who were never kids.

And it's just them—_because Kaldur's just __**gone**__ and he doesn't know __**where**__ the hell Roy is, and this is all that's left, this is all they have left_—and Wally can't help but say, "I'm tired of doing this, Dick."

And there are more shadows than light on Dick's face when he says, "So am I."

* * *

College is nice. Real life is nice. Not worrying about dying—and/or being maimed—is nice.

School in the morning. Family in the afternoon. Artemis at night.

It's nice. (Especially that last part.)

* * *

"I can't _believe you." _He hisses, at the girl who's supposed to be his partner in life, that he's _supposed_ to understand, because, _"how could you __**do**__ this? _How could you_ go back to this?_

Artemis is silent and solemn, and suddenly they're kids again and Wally _just doesn't understand_ (it. Her. The world.), and she replies, "it's _my_ choice."

"—But it was _our _deal! No more playing _hero! _No more saving the world! No more _losing_ and _hurting_ and _dying!"_

And Artemis is quiet, unyielding, and he doesn't know what to say, anymore, when she tells him, again, "it's my choice."

(It was always a choice. But, no one said it would be this hard.)

* * *

"Everything's going according to plan." Dick tells him, even though Wally's girlfriend is partying it up with villain's somewhere in the Pacific, and the Cave was_ blown up,_ and La'gaan was _taken._

"Trust me." Dick says, again.

"It's getting hard to." Wally admits, and he feels so _tired_ and _old_ and _helpless_.

He feels a lot of things, actually. (But he mostly feels helpless.)

* * *

The world's ending.

(At least, that's what the news says.)

The world is _ending,_ thanks to a big cockroach, and Wally's kind of annoyed, because, _"Jesus,_ couldn't you have just sprayed some _pesticide?"_ (Oh yeah, _smooth.)_

Artemis rolls her eyes.

Conner snorts.

M'gann smiles.

Zatanna laughs.

Dick smirks.

Raquel raises an eyebrow.

Kaldur sighs.

Roy shakes his head.

Wally grins.

Yeah, the world's ending. (But it's all good.)

* * *

Arty looks damn good when she's taking out Reach drones.

Wally tells her this, and he's _maybe–kind–of–okay_ grinning.

She rolls her eyes—but she's smiling, because, oh yeah, he's _smooth_—and says, "eyes on the prize, Bay Watch."

And he's looking _right at her_ when he says, "they are."

* * *

Dying kind of sucks. (But, then again, so does the world ending, so, you know.)

(And it's okay. Sort of.)

_"Bart, _we _have_ to slow down more—try to siphon off some of the energy attacking Wally!"

(And Wally knows what's coming. He always does.)

"It's no good, Barry. Oh, man, Artemis is _so_ gonna kill me for this. And don't even get me _started_ on Mom and Dad."

He'd be grounded, because, his Mom would say, _"I can't get a new son,"_ and Arty would kick his ass and say, _"you idiot,"_ and then she'd kiss him, and it would be pretty damn nice.

"…_Kid?_"

But, it's okay, because Mom's got Dad, and Artemis is a fighter. (And Dick'll handle it—he always does.)

"Just tell them, okay?"

(And Barry will.)

Wally knows that, too.

* * *

A/N / _Spoilers_:

Guys. _Guys._ They killed our Wall-man.

No regets about this fic.—I'm glad I got it done.

Mourn with me, fellow Yjers? (Review?)


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